She has already made her debut on the vampire drama in the US after the second series aired from June toSeptember last year.

Ashley, 33, was introduced to British viewers at the end of February when season two of the drama started on the FX channel.

So what better way for the shy and retiring actress to make herself known among non-fans of the show or those waiting for it to start on Channel 4 later this year, than with a naughty photo shoot with men's magazine FHM.

Ashley plays Daphne Landy, who starts at Merlotte's diner - the epicentre of supernatural fanged antics - to replace psychic waitress and lead character Soukie Stackhouse, played by Anna Paquin.

Hello, boys: Ashley introduces herself to the British fans of the vampire drama

Texas-born Ashley, who made her name in US daytime soap The Young and the Restless, said she had no trouble auditioning for the part of a bad waitress.

Speaking to this month's FHM, she said: 'When I was a teenager my parents made me take a part-time job at the local Black Eyed Pea which was a home-cooked food, family restaurant.

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'I really wasn’t very good at all and didn’t last too long. Honestly, some of the plate dropping you see in the show wasn’t planned, I had real trouble balancing them.'

But she admitted that she was nervous when she auditioned for True Blood - as she wasn't completely comfortable with the possibility of full-on nude scenes.

Ashley appears in this month's edition of FHM, out now

She said: 'When we got down to the final auditions I thought I
wouldn’t get the part as the other two girls I was up against said they
were okay with the nudity and I wasn’t comfortable in getting
everything out.'

'I was fine with being shot from the back and
showing a bit of butt, but I got to see each shot and could veto
anything I didn’t like.'

And she joked about shooting a sex scene on a pool table was not fun, as the fake prosthetic scar she had to wear kept digging in her back.

True Blood has become a worldwide hit having been exported to more than 70 countries.

Ashley said she thinks it works because of the 'pure fantasy and entertainment' it provides.

She said: 'Some of the storylines are pretty ridiculous, but that’s what people like. My character has been married twice and both of her husbands have cheated on her with her own mother!'

And she revealed that while she is happy to read fanmail and tries to answer letters whenever she can, she has noticed there are a lot of 'very strange people out there'.

She added: 'Perhaps I should be wearing gloves to open some of the letters. One guy keeps writing to me and he’s convinced my breasts are sending messages to him through the TV. I’m not quite sure what they’re actually saying to him. It’s pretty freaky.'

The May issue of FHM is on sale now.

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True Blood to get hearts pumping as blood-thirsty drama welcomes sexy new cast member Ashley Jones